IPA, the IFOM Postdoc Association
The IFOM Postdoc Association is an association of all the postdocs working at IFOM.
Mission
There are 4 main goals in the spirit of the IFOM Postdoc Association to:
Foster the interaction between postdocs of different labs:
We are not working alone! We share space, resources and knowledge. Connecting with other people is beneficial for both, science and social life.
Organize soft skill courses:
Not only scientific skills count! The scientific career needs other skills that have to be improved: communication, writing, presentation, management and many more!
Provide different perspectives on our future career, as an alternative to becoming a PI:
There's not only one choice for our future! There are many other career possibilities and we need to know them.
Create a network with other postdoc associations all around the world:
We are not isolated from the rest of the world! There are lots of other postdoc communities that we need to interact with to create links, to open our minds and to learn from them.
Publications
Ten simple rules to initiate and run a postdoctoral association
Chiara Bruckmann1,2*, Endre Sebestyén1,2*
1 IFOM, the FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology, Milan, Italy, 2 IPA (IFOM Postdoc Association), IFOM, the
FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology, Milan, Italy
How we achieve our goals
Activities and Events
We organize and coordinate all kind of events, both scientific and social:
Science and Prosecco
Meetings with eminent researchers, persons from international companies and European organizations (every 2 months).
Team
We are an association for all the postdocs working at IFOM. The association is led by a board made up of 4 volunteers, elected yearly by the postdoc community.
IPA consists of a President, a Vice-President and 2 more members of the executive council.
Giulia Dell'Omo
Fabrizio d'Adda di Fagagna's lab
Giulia is the board President. She promotes the IPA mission to improve both the scientific and the social life of postdocs community at IFOM. She coordinates the planning and organization of IPA events. She is a biotechnologist and after her PhD in Experimental and Clinical Pharmacological Sciences at University of Milan, she joined IFOM as postdoc in d’Adda di Fagagna group. There, she is studying how DNA damage shapes tumor evolution in metastatic colorectal cancer thanks to collections of patient derived organoids and colorectal cancer cell lines (in collaboration with Candiolo Cancer Insitute).
Corey Jones-Weinert
Fabrizio d'Adda di Fagagna's lab
Corey helps to organize various IPA events. He completed his bachelors in science at the University of Washington, in Seattle, WA, and recently finished his PhD in IFOM in Fabrizio d’Adda di Fagagna’s group where he is now a postdoc. At IFOM Corey has been studying the role of telomeric non-coding RNAs in the telomere-lengthening pathway active in some cancers called “alternative lengthening of telomeres.” He is also very interested in science communication, and loves to share his work with the public.
Giulia Della Chiara
Massimiliano Pagani's lab
Giulia is in charge of “PIZZA talks” and other meetings or social events organization inside the IPA committee. She is a biotechnologist and did her PhD in Molecular Medicine at San Raffaele Institute, where she focused on studying the molecular mechanisms exploited by HIV-1 virus in the latency establishment, in CD4 T cells and macrophages. After her PhD she joint first Natoli’s group in IEO and then Pagani’s Lab here in IFOM, as postdoc. In the first lab she discovered the interest for epigenetics and in Pagani’s lab this curiosity was definitively consolidated and integrated with the passion for 3D organoids culture, mini avatar of human healthy and tumoral tissues. Now, she’s searching for the epigenetic networks that regulate tumor and metastasis development, exploiting the 3D organoids model combined with the cells of the immune system.
Luca Lazzari
Silvia Marsoni's lab
Luca is responsible for the organization of “Science & Prosecco” and other IPA events. He got a PhD in Molecular Medicine at University of Torino, defining the role of orphan ROR1 pseudokinase in MET-driven tumorigenesis in Paolo Comoglio’s lab (Candiolo Cancer Institute, Torino). He joined IFOM in 2018 after his post-doc in Alberto Bardelli’s lab (Candiolo Cancer Institute, Torino), focusing on translational research with specific interest on patient-derived avatar models (cancer cell cultures, 3D organoids, PDXs). He works in the Precision Oncology Unit coordinating the development and implementation of proof-of-concept clinical trials.
We are supported by 3 extraordinary members who are suggested by the Scientific Director.
Mio Sumie, Marina Properzi, Elena Bauer
Former IPA Board Members
| President | Vice President | Executive Council | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Orso Maria Romano | Giulia Dell’Omo | Corey Jones-Weinert Luca Lazzari Andrea Ghisleni Elisa Salviato |
| 2019 | Valentina Fajner | Orso Maria Romano | Ramveer Choudhary Alexander Egorov Andrea Ghisleni Paolo Luraghi Elisa Magistrati Koustav Pal Elisa Salviato |
| 2018 | Janine Weber | Laura Perucho Aznar | Monica Testoni Orso Maria Romano Valentina Fajner Ramveer Choudhary Simone Tamburri |
| 2017 | Umberto Restuccia | Janine Weber | Carmen M. Livi Chiara Malinverno Laura Perucho Aznar Endre Sebestyén Monica Testoni Maria Vinciguerra |
| 2016 | Chiara Bruckmann | Sina Atashpaz | Endre Sebestyén Christopher Bruhn Carmen Livi Chiara Malinverno Maria Vinciguerra Umberto Restuccia |
| 2015 | Christopher Bruhn | Barbara Sanavio | Aurora Cerutti Chiara Bruckmann Divya Purushothaman Elisabetta Crippa Federica Alberghini Ivan Psakhye |
| 2014 | Hans-Peter Wollscheid | Kerstin Schmitz | Yathish Achar Christopher Bruhn Salvatore Cortellino Hiroaki Kajiho Gema Malet Engra Gabriele Varano (voluntarily associated) |
Comments of former IPA members
Gema
The postdoc association is an essential organ to dynamically gather people of common interests within the postdoc/research life. It can be very useful in terms of education & networking, but also for creativity and motivation, e.g. by inviting people for the Science & Prosecco event or other activities (if there is any budget, of course). Furthermore, it should promote the link between academics and job market through e.g. the grant office, the university, career affair organizations or other institutions.
Barbara
I can also tell you that being a member of the IPA board was a great experience. I met many motivated people with different backgrounds and all were contributing with ideas, experience, energy and time to improve what the Association could do for all the Ifom post docs. it certainly improved my soft and organizational skills. It has been lovely to work together, and a pot of fun too!
Ivan
Contributing to IPA taught me how to manage time more efficiently, persuade and compromise during occasionally exhausting rounds of discussion with other team members in order to come to an optimal decision at the end.
Gabriele
I was part of the founder group of the IPA. At the time, we generated the very first version of the Statute, we picked the current name and, unfortunately, I left IFOM to move to the States when the first official elections for the designation of the board members were called. I still remember how happy we were after launching our first Pizza and Beer event, the Science and Prosecco or the initial skill courses. Despite being only small achievements at that time, they represented the first successful attempts of a new born organization, showing that the IPA had the potential to become a growing reality. Unfortunately, my contribution to the IPA was very short and concentrated to the very first months of the association life. However, I’m very happy to see that things are moving and that the association is growing and is now an established, active and recognized component of the campus. You are doing a great work you are doing, keep going.
Umberto
During the time I spent in IPA, I've been able to expand my skill set, since I've been involved in scientific and social events organization, scientific courses, project management. These have been very educational activities, since I have had the opportunity to enrich and expand my professional background. I also begin to relate with people other than scientists (communication, legal affairs, finance...) to get support to carry out all of these tasks. And last, but not least, I could meet a lot of new people, I got to know many of my peers that I probably would not have met otherwise. I really recommend this experience!
Contacts & social media
Phone: +3902 574 303 383
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